1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shutter assembly mounted on an optical adapter that has a first end side to which one optical cable with an optical connector is detachably coupled and a second end side to which the other optical cable is coupled.
2. Related Art
There is a conventionally known configuration wherein one optical cable can be coupled with another optical cable through an optical adapter. The optical adapter accepts an optical connector for terminating an optical cable and facilitating connection to and/or separation from another device. The optical adapter is configured such that a first end side and a second end side of an internal space are sectioned by a bottom wall, a pair of side walls and an upper wall respectively form first and second accommodating sections which accept first and second optical cables, and a hollow sleeve into which ferrules of the first and second optical cables are inserted is provided at an intermediate portion in the optical adapter. When the optical adapter is used in a state where the optical cable is inserted into only one of the first and second accommodating sections of the optical adapter (in other words, when the optical adapter is used in a state where the optical cable inserted into the one of the first and second accommodating sections is terminated within the optical adapter), dust or dirt may become attached to a distal end of the inserted optical cable, and a user directly looks at light from the optical cable. In order to prevent this problem from occurring, there is a conventionally known configuration including a shutter member coupled in a swingable manner with a first-end-side edge of the bottom wall via a pivot shaft so as to open or close an opening end of the optical adapter sectioned by first-end-side edges of the bottom wall, the pair of side walls and the upper wall (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-148483; hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1).
By the way, there exist two optical adapters that are currently available, which have different shapes from each other. More specifically, one is an SC optical adapter in which a first-end-side edge as viewed from a lateral side has linear shape along a substantially perpendicular direction, and the other one is an LC optical adapter in which a first-end-side edge as viewed from the lateral side has a chamfered shape at an upper corner portion. The SC optical adapter is configured so that an SC optical connector can be detachably connected therewith, while the LC optical adapter is configured so that an LC optical connector can be detachably connected therewith.
Therefore, in order to respectively provide the SC and LC optical adapters with the shutter members by utilizing the configuration disclosed in the Patent Document 1, it is necessary to separately design the respective shutter members for the SC and LC optical adapters, which also makes it necessary to design a plurality of dies for molding the respective shutter members. As a result, labor and cost are inevitably increased.